Photo: Aisha-Bin-Bishr-Chaesub-Lee

Dubai to pilot ITU performance indicators

18 May 2015

by Richard Forster

Dubai will be the first city to assess the efficiency and sustainability of its smart city operations using key performance indicators developed by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU)-T Focus Group on Smart Sustainable Cities.

The collaboration between Smart Dubai, an initiative to convert Dubai into a smart city, and ITU is part of the UN organisation’s efforts to encourage the adoption of master plans for sustainable urban development by city administrations.

“ICT is at the core of Dubai’s efforts to transition from an oil-based economy to a knowledge-based economy,” Bilel Jamoussi, Chief, Study Groups Department, ITU, told Cities Today. “The city has invested heavily in technology to enhance its infrastructure. Dubai is ideally suited from every perspective to provide an excellent opportunity to test the viability of ITU KPIs [key performance indicators] and use it as a policy tool for the advancement of smart sustainable cities.”

The two-year pilot will evaluate the feasibility of the indicators with the aim of contributing to their international standardisation. The first step is the assessment stage that involves data collection requirements for ITU’s indicators, followed by an audit report. This report will then form the basis for reporting and providing feedback to ITU as input to further development of the indicators based on the experience of Dubai.

“The Smart Dubai initiative is an ambitious one. We are transforming a thousand government services through innovative applications of ICT,” explained Aisha Bin Bishr, Assistant Director General of the Executive Office of Dubai. “We have an opportunity to trace the efficacy of a wide range of ICT applications from root to maturity. We will work hard to make a successful pilot to open the doors for other cities to learn from the Dubai experience.”

Dubai’s experience will also assist ITU in the potential development of a ‘Global Smart Sustainable Cities Index’ derived from the set of indicators, and, it is hoped, to lead an overall paradigm shift in line with the post-2015 development agenda.

“ITU proposes to use the experience gained through the engagement with Dubai to provide a clear path to other cities and make Dubai a reference point for other cities to follow,” added Jamoussi. “We also hope to highlight the benefits reaped by Dubai during the transition and we call upon other countries and their cities to join ITU’s Smart Sustainable Cities Initiative.”

The Focus Group has offered an open platform to identify the standardisation requirements of smart sustainable cities, concluding its activities with the release of 21 technical reports and specifications. The reports and specifications, in addition to key performance indicators, detail the requirements of smart sustainable cities in areas spanning from the management of electromagnetic fields to smart water management, climate change mitigation and adaptation, intelligent buildings, open data, and cyber security and data protection.

  • Reuters Automotive
https://cities-today.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Dawn-crop.png

Technology inclusion goes beyond internet access in LA

  • Reuters Automotive